Switcharoo!
by Friedgreenpotatoes
Summary: The good guys are now the bad guys, and vice versa. AU set in the first season. Angel is the Slayer, his Scooby gang is Spike and Dru. Buffy is the tortured vampire with a soul, Giles is the Big Bad.
1. Chapter 1

The doors to the library swung wide and then slammed, causing Angel to look up from the dusty tome he had been skimming. He rubbed at his eyes and greeted Mr. Masterson, the school librarian and his Watcher.

"Please tell me you found something on this creepy Vampire overlord guy" Angel said as he slammed his book closed. "There's nothing in any of these histories".

Mr. Masterson sank down into one of the chairs around the table and ran his hand over his bald head. "Unfortunately, the University library doesn't have anything that we don't already know. I even called some old friends in Boston, but their demonologies don't mention him either." He picked up a slim volume bound in some sort of exotic scaly hide and began flipping through the pages halfheartedly. "I believe the only way we are going to gather more intelligence on this mysterious figure is for you to patrol tonight. Perhaps you can question any vampires you find?"

A smile grew across Angel's face and he stood up, grabbing his backpack. The research part of slaying was never his favorite part, he much preferred the adrenaline rush of getting in fights and staking vamps. "That's the best idea I have heard all day" he said, practically sprinting toward the library door.

"Which cemetery will you patrol first?" Masterson called after him, "Hillside or Beresford?"

"Neither" Angel called over his shoulder, "I'll go to the Bronze"

The older man stood up looking annoyed. "Angel, this is serious. The blood moon is only three days away, this is no time-"

Angel paused in the doorway "If you were a Vampire, where would you be: a empty cemetery or a club filled with a bunch of red blooded American teenagers?" Masterson snorted and raised one eyebrow as Angel disappeared out the door, but didn't object.

An hour later, Angel was in his room pawing through his closet while holding the phone between his ear and shoulder.

"—and if any Vamps show up, instead of staking them right away, I'll grill them for information about the blood moon ritual - of course, after they tell me what they know I'll stake them anywa- No, you can't stake them. You could barely lift the javelin in Gym last week" Angel half smiled as his friend Will heaped abuse on him from the other end of the call. While he listened, he heaved a heavy gym bag out of the bottom of his closet and unto his bed. He pawed through the lacrosse sticks and pads until he found a smaller black bag at the bottom, which he half unzipped and peered inside. Four stakes, recently sharpened, a metal cross, and a few vials of holy water. Satisfied, he zipped the bag back up and swung it back over his shoulder. He turned his attention back to the phone and cut in "I was just kidding man, I know you are on varsity wrestling. Listen, if one of us has to wrestle the vamp, it can be you. Just meet me at the Bronze at-" he looked down at his watch, "9:30. Bye"

A few minutes later, Angel had moved into the bathroom and was carefully coaxing the hair above his forehead to stand on end. As he scowled at his reflection and prodded his hair with gelled up finger, his father popped his head around the door.

"So, going to the Bronze tonight, eh son? Is Darla going to be there by any chance" He smiled under his moustache.

"Darla and I broke up last month" Angel said grimacing. It got too hard trying to date Darla _and_ fulfill his slayer duties. After trying to explain to her the twelfth time that he couldn't go on date nights because he had to do extra nighttime lacrosse training, she dumped him. He found himself unexpectedly relieved after she did. He had been crushing on Darla since he was in 6th grade. Before he got called as the new slayer, he would have given anything to take her to spring formal. Of course, the spring formal was attached by a plague of poisonous falthar demons and he spent more time setting them on fire than he did dancing with her.

"Shame, she was pretty." His father said as he retreated. "Have fun tonight, and don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

The Bronze was not that cool, by normal standards, but it was the only place to dance in town and they let in teenagers. Angel leaned back against the bar and surveyed the crowd. He could usually spot a vampire in a crowd. They moved differently, dressed differently, looked like a fox in a henhouse. Over in a corner, Will was playing pool and his girlfriend Dru was dancing dreamily to the music blasting from the stage.

Slowly, Angel felt a prickling feeling on the back of his neck, like someone was watching him. He sipped his Coke and tried not to be obvious as he scanned the room. After a moment, his gaze fell on a girl, settled deep in the shadows on the other side of the club. She was small, and pretty, what he could see of her. Blonde, with big eyes and a little turned up nose. Once their eyes met, she smiled and pushed off the wall where she had been leaning. Now that she was out of shadow, he could see that she was wearing a leather jacket and dark jeans. Angel thought for a moment she was coming over to him, until she broke his gaze and headed for the exit. The smile never left her face, like the was confident he would follow her.

Of course, she was right. Angel put his drink down on the bar, his eyes never leaving her back, and followed.


	2. Chapter 2

The cold air hit Angel's face as he stepped out into the alleyway behind the Bronze. He wasn't sure what to expect from the blonde he was tailing and he patted his jacket, feeling for the comforting shape of a stake in his pocket. He couldn't quite think that the girl was a vampire. She lacked the sleazily predatory way about her that most vampires had when they trolled the Bronze for victims. As his eyes adjusted to the dark alley, he heard the sound of heels clicking on pavement. The girl stepped out of the darkness into the light of a streetlamp and Angel took a involuntary step forward as he took her in. She was petite, her hair swept up into a ponytail with soft tendrils framing her face.

"It's, uh," Angel swallowed, then started again, pitching his voice deeper, "It's dangerous out here at night. You probably shouldn't be alone".

"But I'm not alone, am I?" A small smile played across the girl's lips. "Besides, I can't think of a safer place to be this close to the Blood Moon than with Sunnydale's own Slayer". It took Angel a moment for what the girl said to sink in. Before he could say anything, the girl spoke again, her smile gone. "You've been looking in the wrong place. These vampires, you won't find them in the sewers. They'll be somewhere…nicer." She seemed to be thinking, absently twisting a small silver ring on her middle finger. "Somewhere with books. That's where he'd stay".

"Who?" Angel had found his voice again. He was curious how she new all this, but he knew that his biggest priority was finding the vampire nest.

The girl started to speak then stopped, her gaze peering into the dark shadows all around them. She stepped toward him, and when she started speaking again her voice was much softer, almost a whisper. "Try…Ripper. They called him that, once."

Angel opened his mouth, a hundred questions running through his mind. Before he could speak, the heavy metal door to the Bronze was slammed open. Angel whirled, pulling his stake out of his jacket in one smooth movement. He found himself nose to nose with his friend William, whose eyes were now locked on the point of the stake that was lightly pressing into his jacket. "What the hell, man?" William squeaked, stumbling back from Angel's stake. It took a moment before Angel's adrenaline calmed down enough to pocket the stake and turn back toward the girl. As he did, he head the sound of retreating footsteps and the girl had disappeared into the darkness. For a moment, Angel thought about going after her, following her into the maze of old factories and warehouses that made up this part of town. Then, he felt a hand clap him on the back.

"Oy, what's going on out here? Was she a vamp, or just a regular hottie?"

Angel paused, his gaze still trained on the shadow the girl had disappeared into. "Um, Neither. I think?" He reluctantly turned back toward William and clapped his hand on his smaller friends shoulder. " She wanted to give me… information. Advice. On the Blood Moon and that nest of vamps that's been making trouble the last few weeks."

William's black brows rose up toward his bleached hair. "Well, how obliging of her. Maybe a total babe will show up and tell me the answers to tomorrow's math test!" Angel sighed they walked back through the back door of the Bronze. "No, wait!" William continued, "Maybe a set of redheaded twins will come running up with tomorrow's lotto numbers!" As they made their way through the crowd a beautiful, dreamy looking girl with long dark hair fell in step with them. She slipped between them and looped an arm around each of their waists.

"Where did my two boys run off to? You left me all alone on the dance floor."

William opened his mouth, but Angel shot him a look and quickly gave the girl a basic version of the conversation in the alley. Their friend, Dru, raised one perfectly arched eyebrow.

"Well, it sounds like we finally have something to go on. Mr. Masterson won't be at the library at this hour. Lets all go get some sleep and we can catch up Mr. M and hit the books first thing tomorrow." As Dru laid out the plan, she steered the boys toward the main exit.

An hour later, Angel's head finally hit his pillow. He kept replaying the conversation in the alley in his mind, imagining what would have happened if William had not interrupted them. He fell asleep with the image of her big hazel eyes and the small smirk playing across her mouth.

The next morning, Mr. Masterson was absently sifting through a pile of old looking books as Angel recounted the encounter in the attic. It was well before first period, and Angel, William, and Dru were circled around a table heaped with books, old star charts on parchment, and handwritten notes. Although he was facing away from the students as he worked, all three saw him stiffen when Angel said the name Ripper. He stood still for a moment, not turning to face them when he asked Angel, "Ripper? Are you sure that's what she said?"

Angel felt the hair rise on the back of his neck. Mr. Masterson was usually unflappable. He nodded, then realized Mr. Masterson hadn't seen it. "Yeah, that's what she said. A-and she said that he would be somewhere…with books?"

Mr. Masterson turned and walked into his office without a word. When he returned, he was carrying a large volume bound in dark, smooth leather.

"So they mention this Ripper in the Watcher Diaries?" Dru asked hesitantly.

"You might say that." Mr. Masterson slid his glasses down his nose as he flipped carefully through the dusty pages. When he found the section he wanted, he rotated the book so the three students could see. An illustration of a kindly, scholarly looking man took up half of one page. One the facing page was a sketch of a vampire, face stretched into a snarl and stained with blood and gore. The students skimmed to dense cursive writing that framed both illustrations.

William's eyes danced across the page and a flicker of fear crossed his confused face. "So this Ripper is…was a Watcher?" All three teenagers looked up at Mr. Masterson, whose expression was clouded with emotion. He pulled off his glasses and started to polish them absently as he collected his thoughts.

"Yes. Ripper, as he became known after he was turned, was a Watcher. A good one. He was one of our most prominent scholars in supernatural lore and demonology. This was decades before my time, mind you. He was a Watcher in the first half of the 19th century" Masterson stood up and began pulling more books off the bookshelves, heaping them on the study table between the students. " This makes the Blood Moon ritual much, much more dangerous. We need to stop this as soon as possible. I do not want to see what horrors will be summoned by Rupert Giles."


End file.
